


Baby Birdie Blanket

by ami_ven



Series: On the Run [19]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe, Community: mcsheplets, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-02
Updated: 2015-02-02
Packaged: 2018-03-10 02:48:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3273920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ami_ven/pseuds/ami_ven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ada brings her fathers a sticky problem.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Baby Birdie Blanket

**Author's Note:**

> written for LJ community "mcsheplets" prompt #194 "hairy situation"

“Daddy!” Ada wailed, racing around the side of the cabin, and John barely had time to set his axe safely onto the pile of wood he’d been chopping when she launched herself at him. “Daddy!”

John caught her automatically and began checking for injuries— there was no blood, no cuts or bruises that he could see. He ran his fingers through her hair, wondering if she’d bumped her head, when they caught against something sticky. “Ada?”

The four-year-old hiccupped. “Sticky gum candy, Daddy. I was chewin’ and runnin’ and—”

“—you got it stuck in your hair,” John finished. 

“Geddit out,” she said. “Daddy, geddit out!”

“I will,” John said, then called, “McKay, get out here!”

A moment later, Rodney appeared, wiping his hands on a dish rag. “What?” he demanded. “I’m making dinner and _one_ of us has got to— Ada? Is she okay? What’s the matter?”

Ada started crying again and leaned sideways out of John’s arms to reach for him. Rodney took her, frowning. “Baby, what’s the matter?”

“She’s got gum candy in her hair,” said John.

“Is that all? I mean,” Rodney faltered, as Ada thumped her forehead against his shoulder, “we’ll get it out, won’t we?”

“Right,” John agreed. “We’ll… we’ll get it out.”

Somehow, the sticky gum candy must have caught on a knot in her hair, because it was stuck _good_ , long strings of bright red candy tangled in the honey-brown curls.

“Ow, ow, ow!” cried Ada. “Daddy, don’t pull!”

“Sorry, kiddo,” said John. “Okay, Rodney, you’re up.”

“What? Why me?”

“You have a sister. Didn’t she ever get gum in her hair?”

“I don’t know…” Rodney shifted Ada to one hip and snapped his fingers. “We’ll need peanut butter.”

“We don’t have any peanut butter,” said John.

“Okay, we’ll need baby oil.”

“We don’t have any of that, either.”

Rodney ducked his head to look their daughter in the eye. “Ada, sweetheart,” he said, “I think we’re going to have to cut the gum out.”

Her little fingers reached for a non-sticky section of her hair. “ _All_ of it?”

“Not all of it,” John assured her, quickly. “Just to about here…”

He touched her jaw and Ada shook her head. “Too short! Won’t bounce when I run, Daddy can’t braid it, be sticky-uppy like _yours_ , Daddy!”

“Hey,” John protested, but Ada buried her face in Rodney’s shoulder and he hissed, “Do something, Sheppard!”

“I don’t— What can I—” John looked around frantically, and a movement in the trees caught his eye. “Ada, you can help the birds.”

“Birds?” she and Rodney repeated, his husband with an added, _Are you crazy?_ expression.

“Yeah,” said John. “Birds make nests out of sticks and twigs, but then they go and find soft things to put inside, for the baby birds to sleep on. Soft leaves and moss and stuff. But, if they can find it, they also like nice, soft hair.”

“Hair?” Ada said. “My hair is soft. Can my hair be a baby birdie blanket?”

“Absolutely,” said John.

She smiled. “Okay, Daddy. You can cut my hair.”

“What, just like that?” said Rodney.

“Don’t question it, McKay,” John warned. “I’ll get the scissors.”

Ada held very still in Rodney’s lap while John cut the gum candy out of her hair and evened the edges, catching the non-sticky strands in a towel around her shoulders. When he was done, he bundled it up and held it out to her. 

“Stay on this side of the trees, Ada,” said John. “And don’t shake the hair all in the same place, so lots of birds can find it.”

“Okay!” she agreed, and skipped off.

Rodney leaned against John’s shoulder, watching her. “Nice save, with the bird thing.”

“I saw part of this documentary once, “ John said. “I was doing a stopover in Frankfort, and it was in German so I’m not sure I got it all, but I remembered that part, for some reason.”

In the woods, Ada was waving the towel above her head, long after all the hair had fallen out.

“We’re in way over our heads with this kid, aren’t we?” Rodney said, fondly.

John laughed, “Oh, yeah,” and kissed him.

THE END


End file.
